All TV: 'House' creator David Shore previews season five

was so tumultuous, both on camera (a competition to find new members of House's team ran for more than half the season) and off (the strike shut down production for months) that you'll forgive the show's creator,

David Shore

, if he has trouble remembering exactly what happened by the end of it.

"I forget," he admits. "I've been working on it for so long now. It's not like a usual year."

Reminded that we left off with Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) blaming House (Hugh Laurie) for the death of his girlfriend - and one of the failed finalists for House's team - Amber (Anne Dudek), the lightbulb clicks for Shore, and he begins rattling off details of how season five (debuting on Sept. 16) will continue those stories. Specifically:-They will follow up on the House/Wilson split "in a funny but realistic way." Though he acknowledges the Laurie/Leonard chemistry is too good to keep the friends apart for very long, "the journey's really cool. We learn something about Wilson, we learn something about House, and we learn something about their relationship."

-Shore admits that "we under-utilized" original team members Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Chase (Jesse Spencer), who became glorified extras for much of last season, even though their characters were re-assigned in the hospital with the best of writerly intentions.

"The notion was that they would be coming back in different capacities in the hospital, and therefore come back with a greater gravitas, and have a different relationship with House; and that would be refreshing. As little as we used them - again, we would have liked to use them more - I really did like the use we made of them. They would come in for only a scene or two an episode, but those scenes had a greater weight."

Shore says finding ways to use Morrison and Spencer more in season five is still "a work in progress," but has plans for Foreman (Omar Epps) to bring them a case, independent of House. He also intends to follow up on Cameron's comment that she missed being on House's team, even though she didn't miss House himself.

-In season four's penultimate episode, Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) referred to the mysterious Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) as "Dr. Hadley," and though House commented at the time that Cuddy didn't know Thirteen's real name, Shore confirms that Cuddy had it right. Just don't expect to hear the name very often.

"No, she's Thirteen. She'll always be Thirteen."

-Early in the season, House will hire a private detective, played by Michael Weston (you may remember him as the guy who carjacked David Fisher on "Six Feet Under"), to break-and-enter into a patient's home, in lieu of having one of his doctors do it. The detective - "a character that only House could love" - will stick around for a while, possibly to set up a spin-off that would fulfill one of Shore's TV fantasies.

As he explains it, "I've always loved 'The Rockford Files.'"

Alan Sepinwall may be reached at asepinwall@starledger.com, or by writing him at 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, N.J. 07102-1200. Please include your full name and hometown.

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